Ex-band director faces neglect charge
BOYNTON BEACH — The former director of the Boynton Beach High School band ordered a student off a bus during a January school trip, leaving him to walk for miles before he could get a ride, authorities alleged this week in arresting the man on a child-neglect charge.
Palm Beach County School District police arrested Quinton Peterson, 33, of Boynton Beach on Tuesday afternoon, and he was released from the county jail that night on $3,000 bond.
Peterson declined comment when reached by The Palm Beach Post. The district did not renew his contract at the end of the school year, a spokeswoman said.
At about 9 p.m. on Jan. 13, the student was headed back from a parade in Riviera Beach and was talking to friends on the bus, according a school district police report. Peterson asked the student to be quiet, and he said he would.
A few minutes later, a friend asked the student for his candy and the student said he didn’t want to share, according to the report. Peterson then told the student to get off the bus and had the driver stop at an unknown location, according to the report.
The bus driver told authorities the student got off at the Lake Worth Road exit from Florida’s Turnpike.
At the side of the road, the student began to walk “sev- eral miles” to an open store so he could charge his phone and call the ride-sharing service Uber to take him home, according to the report. He got home at about 2 a.m. the next morning, police said.
The student’s parents alerted an assistant principal on Jan. 19, and the assistant principal then told police. .
Peterson was reassigned to a position in the school district where he had no contact with children as the investigation took place, said Palm Beach County school district spokeswoman Kathy Burstein.